It was interesting to look at the third quarter of 2016. We saw positive marks across the board, but business transactions really depended on the one thing that matters most—earnings. While the quarter was forecasted for a poor anticipation of profit, that turned out to be too low. Most profit reports beat expectations and rose alongside the rising stock market. Thankfully, that’s easy to understand. Companies become more profitable as they run their business well, and their equity shares appreciate in turn. We’ve had some unfortunate news the last few of years that’s obfuscated that direct correlation.​

This doesn’t mean that we can fully expect an easy situation closing out the year. We’re still pressured by slow global growth and unclear next moves from the Federal Reserve. Additionally, we’re only over a month from summarizing what is quite likely the most unusual presidential campaign/election ever. Here is the only sure thing: we will have a new president.

Listed below are returns of five major indexes, through the third quarter;

Measurable outperformance in the third quarter was added into all five of our portfolios, Technology, Emerging Markets, and domestic Small Cap stocks were all leaders here. Moving forward, we’re looking at our Energy allocations for good performance as well. This is a field we may hope to trim, though, as the price of oil gets closer to $55/barrel. At the same time, we’re tracking High Yield income; it’s a chance to take benefits and seek higher value. We also saw our individual Apple stocks bounce back at a 19% bump within the S&P 500, meaning they’re back on track.

Going into the final quarter, some volatility should be expected. As our election closes and the Brexit vote further develops, we’ll begin to understand more. In any case, we trust it will trade on basics that the quarter will be positive for stocks. We hold the Tech, Emerging Markets, Small Cap stocks, and Energy as the likely best positions. Also, we see some opportunity in Financials for strong performance, as they will very likely benefit from rising interest rates. Due to this, we may keep away from interest rate sensitive areas such as bonds, Utilities, and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs).

Thank you again for your continuing confidence and trust. We can always be directly contacted if there’s anything we can do to help you.